A Local’s Guide to Visiting Guimarães, Portugal
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In Portugal, everybody knows the fairytale-like city of Guimarães, whose historic center is so beautiful and well-preserved that it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I have spent countless hours exploring Guimarães, and never once has it felt like time wasted. From the abundant historic monuments to the appetizing local cuisine, there's no shortage of reasons to visit Portugal's oldest and proudest city.
The city’s outskirts are equally impressive though, and include the lovely natural area of the Serra da Penha and the Citânia de Briteiros archaeological site.
And the best part? Due to its convenient location and small size, Guimarães can be easily explored in just a day! So, if you find yourself in Porto or elsewhere in northern Portugal, you really need to make at least a quick visit to this unmissable, charming town.
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Why visit?
Guimarães is a small city with less than 160,000 inhabitants, but its historical significance is massive. The city is typically referred to as "Portugal's birthplace" because it's where the nation was officially founded in 1128. It's also the native city of Portugal's first king, D. Afonso Henriques.
To this day, Guimarães still boasts a huge sign with the words "Aqui Nasceu Portugal," meaning "Portugal was born here." The city's inhabitants, who are known as the vimaranenses, are very proud to be from this city, and this is probably the town in Portugal where you can most acutely feel a sense of “regionalism” (honestly, it’s a little bit over the top, in my opinion).
But Guimarães is more, much more, than just Portugal's birthplace. While the city is mainly known for monuments such as the Guimarães Castle, which is directly linked to the rise of Portugal's first monarchic dynasty, it's also famous for its charming historic center, young and welcoming population, and excellent local cuisine.
So, why should you visit Guimarães today? In sum, because it's a city with a vibrant atmosphere, a deep history, lots of cool things to see, and an extremely convenient geographical location (especially if you plan on exploring other interesting places in northern Portugal).
Where is Guimarães?
Guimarães is a city in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. One of the many charming hotspots of the Minho region, it sits roughly 60 kilometers northeast from Porto, and 360 kilometers north of Lisbon, the country’s capital.
The geography surrounding Guimarães is characterized by lush greenery, rolling hills, and fertile valleys. To the north lies the Peneda-Gerês National Park, known for its beautiful scenery and outdoor activities. To the south, the landscape is characterized by agricultural fields, vineyards, and the small villages of the Vinho Verde region.
Guimarães itself sits in a valley surrounded by hills and is crossed by the Ave River, which flows from the Vieira do Minho village to the city of Vila do Conde.
Braga, Porto, and the aforementioned Peneda-Gerês Natural Park are the most interesting tourist attractions in the areas surrounding Guimarães, and none are more than an hour away.
How to get here
Guimarães is about 40 minutes away from Porto, the largest city in northern Portugal, and can easily be reached via public transportation or car.
If you’re planning to travel from Porto to Guimarães by public transport, you'll be happy to know that trains and buses are frequent, efficient, and quite cheap.
Getting to Guimarães by train
On a normal weekday, there are trains departing for Guimarães from Porto's São Bento station every hour. The first departure is at about 6:00 AM and they continue until almost midnight. A one-way ticket costs around €4 and the trip takes under an hour.
You can check the full, updated schedule on the Comboios de Portugal (CP) website and app.
Please keep in mind that some of these trains split along the journey, with a few carriages branching off to head to Braga, while others will continue on to Guimarães. If you enter the wrong carriage, you will end up in Braga, so please pay attention, making sure to board the correct carriage - you can always ask for help at the station if needed.
I’ve made this very mistake more than once, so it can happen to anyone!
Arriving by bus
I think the train is the more convenient and pleasant option, but if a bus makes more sense based on your timing, this is also a perfectly good choice.
From Porto’s Campanhã station, buses to Guimarães depart multiple times per hour all throughout the day and evening. The routes are run by Rede Expressos and Flixbus, and one-way tickets generally cost less than €10.
Driving to Guimarães
If you’ll have a car during your time in northern Portugal, and assuming you’re starting from Porto, the drive to Guimarães is an easy 40 minutes along well-maintained highways and national roads.
Parking in the city: There’s lots of parking available within the city center, both free and paid. For paid lots, parking for the entire day shouldn’t cost you more than €10.
In my opinion, the best places to park are: Parque do Campo de S. Mamede, Parque do recinto da Feira Semanal, Parque das Hortas, Parque do Estádio, and Parque do Multiusos.
If you’ll be renting a car during your time in Northern Portugal, I recommend checking prices on DiscoverCars, a car rental website that includes offerings from all the major international rental companies as well as lots of smaller local agencies, which often have much better pricing. You can often find great deals.
How long to spend
Guimarães is a small, very compact city, and its lovely historic center can easily be covered in just a couple of hours. The city’s few major sights, including the Castle, the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança, and the Church of São Miguel do Castelo, are all within easy walking distance of each other and are generally pretty quick to visit.
Apart from those highlights, the rest of the pleasure of visiting this city mostly lies in wandering around and enjoying its charming medieval atmosphere.
If you can spare a few more hours, that will give you time to visit the nearby Serra de Penha, a hilltop park just outside the city (which has a cable car with awesome views), and the Citânia de Briteiros archaeological site, one of the most interesting in Portugal.
While most people just visit Guimarães as a quick day trip, spending the night here can be very pleasant, especially if you’re traveling with your significant other - the town is very sleepy in the evening, but it’s extremely romantic.
Where to stay
Guimarães is a relatively small city and the main sights are compact and all located around the center. So, my recommendation is usually to stay somewhere right in the historic center. That said, I think that there are two lovely hotels which make staying outside the center worth it.
Pousada Mosteiro de Guimarães is a 5-star hotel in a historic, converted monastery located on a high hill overlook the city. The rooms have very period furniture and the common areas have a grand, medieval feel. Walking around the grounds and the halls is a slightly magical experience, and rates are very reasonable for the quality ($170).
Hotel da Oliveira is a charming 4-star hotel in the heart of the historic center with rooms facing one of Guimarães’ prettiest squares ($150)
Casa do Juncal is a B&B set in an elegantly restored mansion in the city center that has a lovely enclosed garden ($120).
1720 Quinta da Cancela is a very “farmhouse-chic” guesthouse in the verdant countryside. About 20 minutes from both Guimarães and Braga, it’s a good base for exploring the greater region ($180).
Restaurants and dining
Getting to know Guimarães on an empty stomach is ill-advised, especially when the local cuisine has so many great things to offer.
The traditional must-try foods are the salted codfish, the Caldo Verde (a brothy soup made of cabbage and potatoes), and the world-famous Vinho Verde wine.
Guimarães is also known for its Francesinhas (a chunky sandwich served with beer and tomato sauce), even though these are originally from Porto.
Excellent and affordable restaurants are abundant in Guimarães, but I will leave you with a shortlist of my favorite four:
Adega dos Caquinhos - A very-typical family restaurant serving great homemade Portuguese food.
Cervejaria Martins - One of the busiest restaurants in the historic center, with a fantastic Francesinha sandwich.
SALA 141 - A more modern alternative, featuring delicious Mediterranean food and tons of vegan options.
Tasquinha do Tio Júlio - The ultimate typical restaurant in Guimarães, patrons here run the gamut from businessmen to college students. It’s usually open all night.
What to see & do
1. Take a tour of the historic center
I cannot overstate how lovely the historic center of Guimarães is. The city centers of most medieval Portuguese towns and cities are quite beautiful, but Guimarães takes it to the next level; there's no trash in the streets, no neglected old buildings (most building facades were renovated in 2012), and no shortage of nice cafés and restaurants to hang out at.
The center is quite compact, so is definitely best explored on foot. And for anyone who mobility limitations, just grab one of the available electric tuk-tuk rides. Normally, I would advise you to stay away from these (they’re mostly tourist gimmicks), but they actually make sense in a place like Guimarães. A complete tour of the historic center by tuk-tuk usually costs around €20 per person.
2. Visit the Guimarães Castle
If Guimarães is "Portugal's birthplace," then the Guimarães Castle is Portugal's bonafide rocking cradle! The Castle isn't particularly beautiful nor especially different from most medieval castles you'll find in the Iberian Peninsula, but it has an indescribable aura that makes it visit-worthy.
Let me put it this way: even if you don't like the Eiffel Tower, you'd feel bad going to Paris and missing out on it, right? Guimarães Castle, the city's undisputable main symbol and attraction, is just like that.
3. Check out the Igreja de São Miguel do Castelo
The Igreja de São Miguel do Castelo is a medieval church right next to the Castle that's also a part of the "birthplace of Portugal" mythology. The legend goes that D. Afonso Henriques, Portugal's first king, was baptized at this site.
This "fact" is heavily disputed by Portuguese historians, however, who claim that the church itself was only built during the reign of D. Afonso II, Portugal's third king. Regardless of whether the story is true, the mystique is already a part of the Igreja de São Miguel do Castelo, and it’s very much worth visiting.
4. Tour the famous Paço dos Duques
To continue your medieval adventure in Guimarães, head to the famous Paço dos Duques, also known as the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança. It's a 15th-century monument located right in the middle of the city.
Once a booming Burgundy palace that even served as the second official residence of Portugal's President, the Paço dos Duques is now a lavish museum filled with paintings and colonial-era tapestry and crafts.
5. Ride the Serra da Penha cable car
The Serra da Penha is a forested hilltop park right outside of Guimarães, with walking trails, huge boulders, and a series of little caves to explore. You can walk up to the top in less than hour, but for a more unique experience, I recommend that you ride the Penha cable car.
This is a major tourist attraction in Guimarães, but it's far from a tourist trap. For just €7,50 (adults) and €3,50 (children), you can ride the cable car, which will give you some of the most memorable views of the region.
The view from the top of the park is also spectacular. If you're in the city, don’t miss out on this lovely natural site.
The view from Serra da Penha. Photo: Otto Domes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
6. Visit the Citânia de Briteiros archaeological site
Only about 20 minutes away (by car) from Guimarães is the Citânia de Briteitos, perhaps the most interesting archeological site in northern Portugal.
Dating back to the Iron Age, the Citânia de Briteiros is one of the last remaining samples of the Castro culture, which were the Celtic people who roamed the Iberian Peninsula nine centuries before the birth of Christ.
Reconstructed Castro-style stone houses at the archaeological site. Photo: Bextrel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
7. Get “cultural”
In 2012, Guimarães was named the European Capital of Culture, and it achieved something we rarely see in Portugal: accessing E.U. funding and actually using it to make a difference! From 2012 onward, Guimarães has been a surprising cultural hotspot in Portugal, especially for people who are into music.
If you want to get cultural in Guimarães, I recommend that you check the city's cultural agenda to see what's going on. Alternatively, just pass by the Vila Flor Cultural Center and see if they have something up (there are tons of events there, year-round).
If you happen to be in Guimarães during the first weekend of November, be sure to check out Mucho Flow, my favorite Portuguese winter festival. It's a niche event, yes, but if you're into alternative electronic music, you’ll love it!
8. Relax like a local in the historic center
Setting aside some time to just relax in Guimarães' historic center is almost obligatory. This is because if there's one thing vimaranenses (the name for people from Guimarães) love, that's sitting at a café with their friends and family while sipping beer or wine and savoring some salty snacks. So you should do as the locals and just chill out for a while!
To truly experience Guimarães like a local, I suggest that you head to the Largo da Oliveira street (the São Tiago Square is equally nice though) and grab a seat one of the many tables. This is where things happen in the city, especially during nighttime, and these are the ideal spots for mingling with locals and making new friends.
Photo: © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC-BY-SA-3.0, Via Wikimedia Commons
How to spend a day in Guimarães
Assuming that you’re coming here from Porto on a day trip, plan to get a relatively early start so that you can be in the city by at least mid-morning.
Start your visit with a nice breakfast at one of the cafés near the Largo da Oliveira, as you're going to need some energy to explore Guimarães' historic center.
Most monuments in Guimarães sit right in the middle of the historic center, and morning is the best time to get to know the city's ultimate classics: the Guimarães Castle, the neighboring Igreja de São Miguel do Castelo, and the Paço dos Duques.
You can easily explore the sights on foot, or opt for a tuk-tuk ride, one of the few times this is actually a worthwhile experience in Portugal.
After exploring the center, head to the outskirts of town and hop in the Serra da Penha cable car, which will give you fantastic views of Guimarães and the surrounding landscapes. Plan to spend around an hour wandering the paths in the park and checking out the impressive boulders and little caves.
Afterwards, head back down to the city center (either on foot or via the cable car again) and grab lunch. For a light meal, I’d suggest SALA 141, or you can go all-in with salted codfish and Vinho Verde at Adega dos Caquinhos.
After lunch, hop in the car (if you’ve driven here) and head to the Citânia de Briteiros archaeological site to visit the ruins. It’s about 20 minutes away.
If you’re planning to stay overnight in Guimarães, head back to the city and enjoy the sunset from one of the cafes in São Tiago Square, which are ideal for a twilight drink.
Grab some dinner at Cervejaria Martins, and then make your way to the Vila Flor Cultural Center for a performance (if there is one). If there's no show that night, you can always drink a cocktail at Vila Flor's Café, which happens to be one of the trendiest bars in town.
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